10 Days, 120 Followers, 100% Engagement
And here is how I did it.
I Accept a Challenge
It all started with good, old eavesdropping.
Two boys were sitting in a café and talking excitedly about some website called Medium. Their eyes were glittering with palpable excitement as they began to talk about some writers making it big on Medium and having thousands of followers. One of them said,
“I wish I could get my 100 followers this month. It has been dragging on for months now.”
“Same here,” the other quipped. “I am tired of getting crickets and more crickets for my articles,” he said in a voice sad with disappointment.
I was sitting right behind them, and my writer’s soul couldn’t help eavesdropping on this remarkable conversation piece. I walked up to them and asked,
“Guys, my name is Govind. I am a retired person who loves writing, and I can write well, I believe. I couldn’t help hearing your conversation about this Medium site. I would appreciate it if you could give me more information so I can try it out.”
They looked at me, their eyes displaying many emotions ranging from surprise and irritability to a hint of sarcasm. Finally, one of them spoke,
“I am not sure what you can do there as you would have to pit against some of the best and brightest writers in the world .100 followers is not easy, man; take it from us”, he said, bringing down my fantabulous dreams crashing in an instant.
Not to be discouraged, I went back and logged on to Medium, and the more I read it, the more I loved it. I accepted the challenge, and precisely on the 10th day, I touched the magical figure of 100.
And here is how I did it.
Day -1
I spend most of the day reading articles on the site and understanding the various tags. My objective was to find out which titles do well and why. I also self-published a couple of my old articles and as expected, no one read them. Crickets and only crickets!!
Day -2
My initial assessment zeroed on the tags of self-improvement, life lessons, and relationships that seem to do well on Medium. However, most of the viral stories in these tags had a personal touch. Readers in Medium seem to like personal stories that give them valuable takeaways in the bargain.
I started rewriting my stories and selected some stories that would fit the requirement.
Days -3 and 4
I discover the powerful feature of commenting and bookmarking stories. I diligently follow the routine of read-comment-repeat. By the end of day 4, I had reached almost 45 followers.
I also fine-tuned my draft stories even further based on the beautiful inputs received from my fellow writers. It was pure engagement at its infectious best.
Days -5 and 6
I discover the magic of publications. I spent the entire two days reading the stuff published by various publications, understanding the submission guidelines, and sending my drafts for review.
While I was tempted to try the more prominent publications, I curbed my instinct and went for the smaller ones where I had a better chance of getting accepted as a writer.
By day 6, I had been selected as a writer by 5 publications. I remember that evening when I clicked on “manage publications” and saw myself listed as a writer; it was one of the happiest days of my writing journey.
Days -7 and 8
I submit my drafts to publications. Some got accepted, and in others, minor tweaks were asked for by the editors. I worked on the changes and finally managed to get all my drafts accepted.
At the same time, I continue my routine of reading religiously and commenting on others’ works. The collaboration gel was getting stronger, one comment at a time, one clap at a time. I was getting there slowly but surely.
At the end of day 8, I had reached 85 followers.
Days -9 and 10
The elephant had gone; only the tail was remaining. The views started pouring in, and along with that came insightful comments on my writing. My writing journey turned a full circle as I got to answer others’ comments.
My articles finally got the attention they deserved, and I loved every moment of it. I was humbled by the admiration I received as I achieved my objective.
Yes, at the end of the 10th Day, I had 104 followers. At this point I had garnered more than 350 views on my articles, growing steadily from 2 views on day 1.
Key Takeaways
Consistency is the key. Push yourself a little more every day. Build your writing palace, one brick at a time. Not one wasted word. Not one wasted sentence. That is all you need to do!
As Stephen King has rightly said.
“I think that writers are made, not born or created.”
About Govind
Govind is a retired corporate executive spending all his leisure time writing and reading just about anything under the sun from leadership, management to ancient history. He can be reached at govind.narasimhan@yahoo.com
